The Cost of Honor, or why honest businesses are the first to go in an unregulated market.

A dishonest businessman can always offer more than an honest one, because the dishonest businessman knows that they are not actually supplying what they offer. Blatant "too good to be true" offers may raise suspicions, but what about those not blatant? You might be able to boycott one bad company, but what if they are all not what they say? Can a company that delivers an honest product jump into, or stay in, a market filled with crooks? They are already established, and since they are making shortcuts that are not honest but save them money (else why do them) your expenses will always be bigger, and therefore your profits less. And even then who would know?

Without some sort of honest cop on the beat to collar the criminals and haul them out of the market, those who are honest will be driven out of that market. But the situation gets worse. Since the corruption is more profitable than honesty any funds spent to subvert or bribe that cop often can bring returns greater by far than the cost of the bribe. However money spent to fight that subversion or prevent the bribe returns no extra profit, nor does any effort to clean up the damage done. There is benefit to the entire society for an honest regulator (as that is what the cop is in the market) and why only the entire society can afford the effort.

Those who are so unsocialized as to have no concern for others may indeed chafe at being forced to behave at minimal levels of honesty, and all the more at being expected to help pay the bills to do so, and this is why they have created a great industry aimed at subverting oversight, and freeing them to loot at will, returning greater profits that can allow greater subversion. This is the main reason that the Right Wing Media is so robust and a real Left Wing Media barely exists.

Honesty enjoys greater support and willingness to sacrifice, but only when the real issues and facts are understood, and the tipping point is coming soon when no amount of sacrifice will stop another Totalitarian regime of Pirates from looting civilization into a feudal nightmare if not the extinction of the human species.

With all the hype how can we tell what is the reality behind a label?

It is quite true that folk use nice words like Christian, and then propose agendas that do not fit that label, or try to make good ideas like socialized or empathy out to be evil.

All that can be sorted out quite well by asking what they think of the four Socialized values.:...

Empathy: can they imagine what others lives are like, are they willing to treat those others as they would wish to be treated if in their shoes.

Empowerment: Are they willing to help others to be all they can be and make the best for themselves, knowing that it is not a zero sum situation, and the advancement of others advances yourself as well.

Responsibility/accountability: that any position that allows one to make decisions that affect others (particularly politicians, but corp as well) are agents for those affected and a violation of that trust for personal gain is embezzlement, and should be treated as such, and if the Cop on the job does not do so, that is dereliction of duty and should be treated as such. Though like any group activity, perfection is impossible so you deal with it as you can, and with that empathy stuff as above.

Reality: This should be universal, but unfortunately is not. There are ways to decide what is real for the most part, and what is phony or illogical and that needs to drive the decisions about what enhances or detracts from the other values and as a package.

From such understanding the way through all the flack can be much easier.